Exotic, how cute
Animal Life Foundation thinks it is important that people understand why keeping an exotic animal is not very sensible and sometimes even dangerous for the animal itself, as well as for public health and Dutch fauna. Unfortunately, illegal trade flourishes in the Netherlands, especially through the internet. Animal Life Foundation actively works to create more awareness in consumers and to enlarge alertness with internet providers. They can play an important role in forcing back this kind of trade.
The illegal traffic of exotic animals is the biggest illegal traffic in the world, after narcotics and weapons. Unfortunately, The Netherlands plays a big part in the illegal trade of exotic animals. Dutch traders are substantial clients of the sale in their own country as well as transport.
Airport Schiphol, Rotterdam and Amsterdam are even supposed to be the most important access ports. The animals travel in match boxes, hollowed books, between dirty laundry or even in bottles. There are many horrifying examples. Smuggled parrots, suffocated in plastic bottles, squished land tortoises, piled ten high in boxes. Hundreds of dead poisonous frogs from South America, destined for one of the many sales fairs.
Exotic animals
Nowadays a dog or cat as a pet is quickly seen as boring and common. That's why more and more people purchase an exotic animal. Exotic animals are for instance chinchillas, chameleons, snakes, scorpions, black widow spiders, tropical fish, monkeys, raccoons and prairie dogs. The problem with these animals is that they are not domesticated. They are not used to a life as pet, resulting in frustration for the animals, they start to destroy their habitat and show aggression. Many of these animals don't even make it through their first year. The largest import group consists of birds and fish, followed by invertebrate animals such as spiders and scorpions. Also much imported are reptiles, amphibians and mammals. Many of these animals are caught in the wild. There's a lot of demand even for animals caught in the wild. Trade in wild-caught animals could be stopped if consumers no longer showed interest in wild-catching and if the countries where those animals are legally traded drew up stricter rules or even completely banned the import and export trade.
Many of the illegal imported animals experience a lot of stress during the catch, transport and storage. In 1995, the turnover of illegal trade in plants and animals was estimated at twenty billion dollars. For this money endangered animals species are robbed out of their milieu, smuggled to other countries under miserable circumstances and eventually sold to so-called “animal lovers”. The transport is so cruel that a smuggler catches twenty birds to end up with two live ones. After transport the animals usually end up at wrong sellers and are bought by people that have little to no knowledge of these kinds of animals. The problem is that these people often by on impulse. They see a cute or interesting animals and buy it without thinking about the consequences. If they are fed up with the animal it is often dumped or killed. At markets and fairs animals are on offer under miserable circumstances like in (too) small plastic containers. Swamp turtles walk around in dry containers (they need water) and several animals can be seen in tiny, damaged containers. Animals used as food (like mice) are collected in large numbers and put in containers that are too small. Baby mice are sold in cones, like ice cream or French fries.
Zoönoses and public health
What people certainly don't realise is that an exotic animal can be a carrier of a certain disease that is a threat to Dutch flora and fauna and public health. Raccoons, for instance, can be carrier of a raccoon roundworm that can infect humans, other mammals and birds. Especially the environment where raccoons have lived poses a risk, because the roundworm can survive for years and years. Prairie dogs can be carrier of a monkeypox-virus that is highly contagious for humans. A good example of a worldwide viral infection transmitted by exotic animals is the SARS epidemic in 2003. This epidemic caused more than 8000 human infections and 764 deaths. Apart from the fact that keeping exotic animals poses a threat to public health, these animals can also endanger Dutch flora and fauna. Exotic animals that are dumped or escape and survive in nature can push out a certain domestic species. A very recent example of this is the grey squirrel, a foreign species that severely suppressed the red squirrel. This is mainly caused by food competition and introduction of diseases to which the red squirrel has no resistency. Raccoons and muskrats are also a threat to biological diversity in Dutch wildlife.
(Sources: Bolhuis van H. en Wolters M. (2007), Vinke, C. (2009), www.aap.nl, www.dierenbescherming.hoekschewaard.nl)
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